Exercise apparatuses commonly employ a weight stack actuated by a cable which is pulled by users of the apparatus. Recently, resistive elastic members, such as bands or plates, have been incorporated into exercise equipment to provide motion resistance. Specifically, resistive elastic members have gained increased popularity due to their ability to provide substantially consistent tension throughout the desired range of motion and generate an increased use of stabilizer muscles to oppose the substantially consistent tension while providing resistance in a large number of directions and ranges of motion.
While the use of resistive elastic members provides many benefits, a number of the traditional apparatus configurations can present limitations affecting the usefulness of the exercise apparatus. For example, the range of exercises which may be performed with certain cable actuated apparatuses is sometimes limited by the position and orientation of the apparatus itself. Particularly, with the added range of motion and resistance offered by the use of resistive elastic members, such as bands and plates, consumer needs and considerations are often at odds. Particularly, the safety considerations of providing a stable apparatus are constantly at odds with the desire for a system that is relatively compact while providing the ability to perform full body exercises and allow the user to take advantage of a full range of motion.
One type of resistance band apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,801 issued to Jean Pierre Marques. In this patent, an exercise system includes a pair of elongate side members, a plurality of bar members extending between the side members, a plurality of eyelets attached to a front edge of the side members, and a mat member pivotally attached to a lower portion of the side members. A plurality of attachments can be attached to the bar members and the eyelets to allow the performance of various exercises. An alternative resistance based apparatus is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. App. No. 20080020912 assigned to ICON IP, INC. In this patent, an exercise machine has resilient elongate members for providing balanced resistance in the form of elongate resilient members oriented horizontally such that the intermediate portion of the elongate members contact a fulcrum of the exercise machine.